Paid it forward today.

[QRTRHRS]

Those of you that are following the weather may know that we had a bunch of flurries here in KY (where I grew up, anything less than two feet would be termed just flurries. Anyway, I don't have a tractor capable of plowing the ten-twelve inches off my 600 foot driveway plus another 3 inches that we had overnight.

To add insult to injury, after I sold my dually, I sold a set of V-bar chains at auction thinking I would never be buying a dually again. One of the medications my wife takes cannot be refilled ahead of time and wouldn't you know it, she ran out so I had to get out to fill the prescription. I remembered having a set of single passinger car chains around and lo and behold they fit on my box truck.

So, I was able to drive out the ten miles to the main road then remove the chains and head for Wal-Mart which is where we get our prescriptions filled. While parking, I saw a few semi's that had parked to get off of the roads. When I finished in the store and went to leave, there was a truck with a bulk tanker sporting super singles on the drives. The parking lot was sloppy enough that he was not going anywhere. I had the forsite to throw two twenty foot chains in the box before I left today so I offered to give it a shot. I was on snow myself so I could not do it without the chains on my tires. I spotted some wet pavement so I hooked up both chains and a strap to give me enough length to get on the pavement. Remember, this is a Wal-Mart lot so I was a little concerned that someone would run into the strap and chains once I got some length between us, lol!

Anyway, that did the trick, we got his truck moving. The driver could not thank me enough but I just said to pay it forward. He got away a lot cheaper than the one I saw that tried to hang a hard right and hung up his trailer.

I always wondered about super singles and snowy roads. Only thing I ever had them on was a jiffster for pulling pups. Super singles or duals, a lot of drivers don't think about parking in winter slop. Tires will be warm even at cold temps. When you park, the tires will melt in and there you go or rather there you don't go. (Been there done that, lol)

 

[tcartwri]

I do not like being next to them on the hwy in the winter. It must be like driving a race car in the rain.

 

[MossRoad]

Fat tires in snow stink on cars.... I've always wondered about those fat truck tires. For load displacement on dry pavement they do their job... I wonder, however, if having one wide tire VS two skinny tires if there's any actual mathematical difference in the square inches of the contact patch on the pavement or through the snow? Anyone know?

 

[MossRoad]

Forgot to mention to the OP that you did a good deed! What goes around comes around. :thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

You know, I've only ever seen the super singles on concrete trucks & a few gravel trucks around here. Never on OTH semi's. Not a whole lot of concrete or gravel work here in the winter. Fat tires on anything around here in the winter would be like a race car in a rain storm.

 

[Ed of all trades]

They don't make sense to me. If you have a flat with duals you can limp in and have it fixed. With a single you are sunk. Don't know but it seams like the space between the duals would give you some room to push some of the snow instead of it all having to go to the side.

 

[Garandman]

Fat tires in snow stink on cars.... I've always wondered about those fat truck tires. For load displacement on dry pavement they do their job... I wonder, however, if having one wide tire VS two skinny tires if there's any actual mathematical difference in the square inches of the contact patch on the pavement or through the snow? Anyone know?

GREATEC | Technologies | Bridgestone Corporation
Appears to be less.

 

[oldnslo]

They don't make sense to me. If you have a flat with duals you can limp in and have it fixed. With a single you are sunk. Don't know but it seams like the space between the duals would give you some room to push some of the snow instead of it all having to go to the side.

In theory the super singles are supposed to be setup so that you can limp into the next town for service like duals. This rarely works since the rim is only a couple inches off the ground and bumps in the road destroy the rims.

FIL is a retired truck driver and says the super singles suck in slippery conditions Vs Duals.

 

[QRTRHRS]

When I ran doubles, some of the jiffsters started showing up with super singles. Some of the drivers said to stay away from them because you could wait all night for the right tire jockey if you had a flat. So...the first chance I got I grabbed one. Anyone that ever man handled a jiffster knows they can be unwieldy and heavy. Darn thing moved so easy with the singles it about ran over me. Handled fine but you could not see it under the trailer while driving. That only made backing a set even more difficult. I think the drivers that claimed to not like them wanted to keep them for themselves.

 

[MossRoad]

Whats a jiffster?

 

[Creamer]

Whats a jiffster?

X2 I don't know either

 

[Cat_Driver]

When I had my now plowing business when I was a kid in the 70's I was luck enough to have parents that would sign for a 5K Dodge Power Wagon and plow. NOTE: I could of bought a Corvette for a around the same price to put it in perspective.
I made a pact with myself that if I ever saw anyone stuck or mechanical problems I would stop and help, as part of my "give back"
Being a kid, young and naive I thought I would be nice and all the people I helped would appreciate my help and show appreciation.

It was my internal deal that I would never charge to help people. Shirty I learned how naive I was. After the 15 or 20th person I, jumped started late at night in the mall parking lot a zero degrees in a snow storm, all the people I pulled out of the ditch while I was dressed in nice clothes and on a date, all the times I came home greasy and fitly, well I finally learned people can be real JERKS.

From that day on my price for my help was a simple thank you, a small indication of appreciation and your debt was paid in full.

Now for all the JERKS I met that never thanked me I quickly told them how much in dollars my help would cost them, most of the Jerks would grumble but pay as they were no longer in trouble.

One REAL JERK challenged me by saying " I NEVER CALLED YOU TO HELP ME!", well he was right, I turned around and drove in to assist him on my own, when I saw his hood up at 11PM in a snow covered parking lot. I said, your right, you didn't. I said well do me one favor then, since I just jump started you, I want to make sure you'll be OK. Do me a favor and shut your car off and let's see if it will start and I will know you're OK. ( KNOWING the car would never start )
The Jerk complied, and as expected NOTHING.
He said OK , you got me how much do you want to jump start me again. I said the first time I jumped you the price was a simple thank you, now, I'm sorry I'm not available.
One old lady who was shoveling that "mountain" at the end of the drive way, that the city trucks love to deliver when they plow the streets. I turned around, backed over the mountain in four wheel drive, lowered the plow blade to push the mountain away, just to be kind, and she proceeded to hit my truck repeatedly with her snow shovel.
You guesses it - that was one of the last times I attempted to be a good samaritan, and that winter I lost all mt naiveté.

 

[oldnslo]

Whats a jiffster?

Not sure but suspect this is the hitch assembly for pup trailer when pulling doubles. Curious to see if I am correct.

 

[MossRoad]

I thought that was a dolly?

 

[QRTRHRS]

I thought that was a dolly?

One and the same.

 

[Creamer]

Cat Driver - I understand where you are coming from as I always stop to help people. I always ask if they want it first and some of the remarks I get makes me wonder why I stop. Fortunately the remarks come from only about 2% of the people - the rest are glad and quite frankly I feel better. I will bet you do to when you get the thank you.

Now I want to thank you being a good guy!